


Boston

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [4]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-04 23:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14031651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Claire gets the job offer of her dreams.This story preceeds "We've Already Done It" but you can read it on its own without a problem!https://archiveofourown.org/works/13942758/chapters/32096871





	Boston

                                                                

“Hey, LJ!” Joe called to her from down the hospital’s long corridor that led between the two main buildings. “Dr. Mackenzie wants to see you,” he paused. “In the office.”

“No,” Claire whispered. “Really? Why?” she sounded half-crazed now. “I’ve seen three of the new nurses come out of there this morning crying! Even Margaret McLeod came out in tears!”

Dr. Mackenzie was known to manage the nursing staff with ruthless efficiency. If a nurse could not be depended upon absolutely, they were summarily dismissed. Conversely, if a nurse excelled, they would most likely be recognized for their exceptional work. The nerve wracking part of working under Dr. Mackenzie was that nobody knew which category they fell into until they were called in to talk the intense physician.

Joe knew Claire could _only_ ever be recognized for her outstanding care. But Claire frequently doubted that she was competent, let alone outstanding. One reason why Joe had quickly come to respect his friend’s new boyfriend, Jamie Fraser, was because he had such a honest and reassuring way of reminding Claire of her own strengths. Right now, it fell to Joe to remind her though.

“Hey, you know that you’ll be fine in there. Dr. Mackenzie is intense, but fair. This is a good thing, LJ,” he reassured her.

“Then why do I feel as if Dr. Letitia Mackenzie is going to ban me from this hospital?” she groaned into her hands. “This absolutely cannot be any good at all.”

She rolled her shoulders back, shook out her hands, and marched determinedly to Dr. Mackenzie’s office.

* * *

He heard something thump against the door before the key he’d given Claire found its way into the lock and turned causing him to stifle a chuckle. For a woman who was so good with her hands, she certainly had difficulty with clumsiness in general. He found it quite endearing. He found nearly everything about Claire Beauchamp endearing.

 _Six weeks_ he thought to himself. That was how long they had been dating, how long it had been since she accidentally stumbled back into his life. How quickly he had fallen in love with her.

Now he couldn’t fathom a future without her.

He grinned from ear to ear as she finally entered his home and unceremoniously dumped her tote bag on the floor by his door. Nudging it to the side with her foot, she then slipped off her shoes without bothering to untie them, then sauntered down the hallway toward him. He loved it when she walked like _that_. Her slim arms snaked around the back of his neck and her small body pressed into his as she kissed him hello.

And then she was telling him about her day. _Ifrinn!_ She’d just held him and kissed him and now she was just _talking_? Did the woman not know what she was doing to him when she did that?!

“So then Joe told me that I was wanted in Dr. Mackenzie’s office and I was terrified, honestly, that things were going to end very poorly,” she rambled on. Clearly he had missed the first part of her story.

“I’m sorry, Sassenach. Could ye begin again? It’s only that I didna hear the first part of what ye said.” He mentally chastised himself for not attending to what she was saying. If anyone was deserving of his attention, it was his Claire.

She smiled serenely and began again. “It’s just that all day long different members of the nursing staff were being called in to Dr. Mackenzie’s office. You remember me telling you about her, right?” she asked. She had mentioned the demanding doctor on a number of occasions. At a nod of his head, she continued. “Well, many left the office crying so when Joe told me I was wanted in her office, I was terribly nervous.” She was rubbing her hands together in a manner that indicated she might still be nervous, actually.

“Ye ken that ye are quite a capable nurse though, aye? It is something that you’re respected for among your peers. Joe has told me as much and your other friends have commented as well.” He loved hearing how strong she was nearly as much as he enjoyed seeing her face when he reminded her.

“Well, I was wrong about the reason I was called in anyway,” she paused.

He thought it really _was_ nervousness that flitted across her features but he couldn’t figure out why that would be the case when the situation had turned out fine.

Looking him directly in the face she continued. “I was called in and offered a marvelous position with additional training,” she finished succinctly.

He was missing something still because he didn’t see how this could be a bad thing at all.

“In Boston,” she blurted out.

And in that moment his entire world, their whole future, seemed to tilt out from under him.

* * *

She’d not stayed at Jamie’s place long after dinner. The entire time after she had made her announcement, she’d been hoping that he’d say something, anything, about her leaving. He’d seemed quieter than usual, she thought, but that could have just been her imagination. She had honestly hoped that he’d ask her to stay in Scotland which was entirely ridiculous considering she’d known him only a few weeks.

There was no way he could possibly know that she already loved him more than she’d imagined possible. He couldn’t know that even the mere thought of leaving him for her dream job made her feel as if she couldn’t breathe, like all the oxygen had left the room and she was still there, struggling to draw breath.

She curled up in her bed listening to the rain hit the window pane in what should have been a comforting sound. Fitfully, she dozed until being abruptly awakened by a pounding on her apartment door.

There stood Jamie, his red hair, lit by the street light and dripping rain, hung in loose curls.

“Why in the world didn’t you use your key?” was the only thing she absurdly managed to say before Jamie began to speak.

“I ken it’s been only six weeks, Claire. Six weeks. But we were meant to find each other.” He continued to ramble. Over the roar of the rain and her own emotions she only caught pieces of what he said, but it didn’t matter, because that was enough.

He paced back and forth, raking his hands through his hair, scrubbing them over his face. He told her of how he’d known he loved her that first night as the rugby game played on the television and they’d talked into the wee hours of the morning. He shared that he was determined that this new job would not end their relationship. If it meant that he had to go to Boston to make it so, he would, he said. Jamie spilled his heart out to her, there on the landing of her apartment.

Then he spoke before he knew what he was saying, before he could think it through. She could see that it surprised even him, and for a moment she wanted to laugh. But there he was, kneeling in front of her with his mother’s wedding ring held out. His priceless treasure, offered freely to the one whom he had come to treasure above all else. And the moment that Claire would cherish for the rest of her life was that split second when she looked at his face saw that he knew her heart, her answer, even before she did.

_Yes!_


End file.
